Auto Insurance Industry Ass Kissing Ad.. Oh Sorry... Story

[upstatecajun]

Our right wing newspaper The Columbus Dispatch printed a story in their paper this morning basically saying its cool to let the insurance company know what your doing all day and how your drive. Save money? I am sure they will find a way with this shi$ to charge you more.....here is the AD, oh sorry, story.....

David Bartlett knows he is a safe driver. The 24-year-old Short North resident doesn’t drive too fast or late at night and always wears his seat belt.

Now his insurer is convinced, too, and is rewarding Bartlett with lower rates.

Bartlett’s savings comes from Progressive’s “Snapshot” program, which the insurer says can reduce rates by as much as 30 percent.

Under the program, policyholders plug in a device — which fits in the palm of a hand — into their car’s diagnostic port, typically below the steering wheel. The device tracks drivers’ speed, miles driven, braking habits and time of day when driving takes place. That information then is sent to Progressive using technology called telematics.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2011/04/17/drivers-can-save-by-letting-big-brother-ride.html?sid=101

[AdHocSolver]

1. Embracing "Big Brother".

This sounds a lot like the monitoring devices they put on people who are let out of jail.

Only in America would large segments of the population willingly give up their privacy for a few dollars.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Insurance and other companies have been pushing for black boxes in cars since 1999.

Looking back thru time, you can see the progress of attempts to spy on drivers, disguised as safety concerns:

From 2003:
" Beginning in the 1999 model year, though, GM upgraded SDMs to include an event data recorder. The newer SDMs track the car's speed (from the speedometer), engine RPM, the exact position of the gas pedal, and whether or not the brake pedal was pressed, among other statistics.
Auto engineers designed and installed event-logging SDMs to study accidents and improve their cars' safety, but the data from the boxes has also proven admissible in court."
http://www.slate.com/id/2087207/

Privacy concerns arose as early as 2004:
"the Consumers Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, are among those calling for the establishment of rules ensuring the protection of privacy in the use of black-box data.
In a June 2004 announcement, the NHTSA proposed requiring manufacturers to include information about black boxes in owners' manuals for cars equipped with the technology."
http://news.cnet.com/Rocky-road-for-car-black-boxes/2009-1041_3-5604449.html?tag=untagged


In 2005, the effort to spy on drivers was framed as "to protect teen drivers":
( without mentioning that any information could be used to deny insurance claims)
"The black box, easily installed in cars made after 1995, has a memory card like a digital camera's that can be removed and plugged into a home computer. The parent can then download a detailed report — from seat-belt use to how fast the car traveled to the use of signals. The device also growls at the driver when he or she exceeds safety thresholds while braking or turning."
Runge calls the device useful for both teaching and monitoring. Other safety experts who took part in the USA TODAY discussion agreed.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-06-02-black-box-usat_x.htm


but then, push for black boxes to store MORE information for LONGER time periods began:

Monday, May 24, 2010
"a broad coalition of automakers announced their support for making "black box" data recorders and brake override systems mandatory on new cars.
What exactly would these safety features do? Black boxes, or event data recorders as they're called in the biz, would record everything that happened to a car, including driver inputs and vehicle speed, in the 60 minutes prior to -- and the 15 seconds after -- a car crash."
http://www.bankrate.com/financing/cars/should-all-cars-get-black-boxes/

Seems the more spy capabilities invented, the more corporations and government want to use them on people.

[customerserviceguy]

3. It should help the market for classic cars

I'm never going to let them monitor me. It would be helpful if people left insurance companies that offered such discounts, and cited the reason when they do go.

But then, this is the industry that thinks your credit report says a lot about the way you drive, too.